In a special election to replace Republican Bob Mead in Hillsborough’s 4^th District, Democrat Jennifer Daler took the race over Republican Peter Kucmas with 1401 votes to his 1007.  Democrats are now claiming this was ‘high voter turnout’ .  Say what?  In the 2010 elections Jennifer Daler lost with 2497 votes, which is more than the combined total for both candidates in this race.  In 2008 Daler had even more votes when she lost at 3512 .  Regardless of the outcome, there was very low voter turnout for this race.  This is typical with special elections but the Democrats are claiming a ‘referendum’.   Voters may very well have decided they wanted some balance in the Senate (it will still be a Republican majority) but the voter totals do not show anyone to be overwhelming interested in this race on either side.

Results from the 2010 election: 

Results from the 2008 election: 

Both sides will now start playing the ‘spin game’.  The Democrats are already trying to tell people there was high voter turnout when the facts prove there was not.  It would be interesting to see how many Indies actually voted in this election.  Since Daler has previously lost other elections, what does that say about her as a candidate and about voters in the district? What does this say about Kucmas?  Daler had more votes in 2008 and 2010 then both candidates combined in this 2011 election.  Is this a referendum on House Speaker O’Brien and the Republican majority?  It doesn’t really seem so since the voter turnout was so low; however, regardless of voter turnout, Daler still won in a district that has consistently voted Republican.